TURKEY GOING TO APPEAL TO THE INTERNATIONAL COURT CONCERNING THE SO-CALLED ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

Azeri Press Agency
Nov 15 2006

"Turkey may appeal to the International court concerning the so-called
Armenian genocide," Turkish Prime Minister Abdullah Gul announced, APA
reports, during the discussions of draft state budget for 2007 in the
Turkish Parliament former diplomat, Shukru Elekdag made a new proposal
to prevent international recognition of Armenians’ genocide claims.

He wanted Ankara to appeal to the Hague Court.

"Turkey has to propose the investigation of the events of 1915
according to the requirements of UN Convention on the Prevention and
Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. Even if the Armenians don’t accept
the proposal, it will show Turkey’s moral and legal rightness and
undermine political misuse of this issue," he said. Highly appreciating
his thoughts, Abdullah Gul estimated the Armenians’ claims and their
influence on Turkey’s relations with other countries as one of the
most important problems of the forthcoming 10 years. He said they
do their best to uncover historical truth and mentioned that they
proposed to form a commission with Armenians consisting of historians.

"Most countries supported us. Now we are trying to take other steps.

We also think of appealing to the International Court. We consult
both with local and foreign lawyers," he said.

Shukru Elekdag said that if the issue is investigated in the
International Court, the Armenians will have to prove the genocide,
but they have no historical documents to prove it.

Elekdag also explained how the issue will be investigated. He said that
both sides Turkey and Armenia (of course in case Yerevan agrees to
the investigation) will choose three judges, the head of the panel
will be a neutral judge. The panel of judges to be composed of 7
judges will make a decision if the events happened in the Ottoman
Empire in 1915 are genocide or not.

17 states have recognized the so-called Armenian genocide up to now.

After the democrats, close to the Armenian lobby, won in the Congress
elections Turkey is concerned about the probability of recognition
of the so-called genocide by the US.